Two operations to remove the harpoon took four hours, Sky News added, and the man came dangerously close to serious injury because the harpoon came within millimeters of a major artery.

Coutinho did not suffer any brain damage, though he lost the sight in his eye, theNew York Daily Newsreported last week.

"The object, it seems, took a path where it didn't damage any vital structures, any vascular structures and was taken out," Dr Orlando Maria, chief of neurosurgery at the hospital, told Sky News.

Last year, a 16-year-old Miami teen was treated at Jackson Memorial Hospital after a spear gun held by his friend accidentally discharged (photo-essay on the left has more details). The spear entered the teen's head about two inches above the right eye, and miraculously, there was no damage to any major blood vessels and essential brain structures. The spear was removed after a successful three-hour surgery.